CAMDEN, NJ—An East Greenwich, N.J., man admitted today to advertising child pornography for others to download over the Internet, including videos of infants being sexually assaulted, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Robert J. Paratore, 47, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of advertising and offering to share child pornography. Paratore entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Camden federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made during Paratore’s guilty plea proceeding:
From at least as early as May 29, 2009, Paratore, who was then the CFO of Akers Biosciences, Inc., used his work computer in Thorofare, N.J., to download computer files that contained child pornography—including images of prepubescent children and infants engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Paratore then advertised his 76 gigabyte collection and shared the images with others over the Internet using peer-to-peer file-sharing—communication via special software which makes it possible for computers to link together over the Internet to form a network for sharing digital files between users.
Law enforcement officials who executed a search warrant at Paratore’s place of employment in Thorofare found child pornography on his work computer and over 100 CDs or DVDs of the material in his truck parked outside. Paratore acknowledged that the images and videos he made available included depictions of children who were clearly minors. The titles of the files offered by Paratore, such as “!!!NEW tod rape.1. mpg,” graphically described the ages of the victims and the acts of sexual assault which had been recorded.
Paratore also stated that he understood that he faced a minimum of 15 and maximum of 40 years in prison, based on his prior federal conviction for possession of child pornography. As part of his guilty plea, Paratore agreed to a 20 year prison sentence, to serve a term of supervised release for the rest of his life, and to forfeit the computers that he used to commit the offense as well as 167 CDs and DVDs and a two-gigabyte thumb drive containing child pornography. Paratore has also agreed to disclose information to law enforcement about eight individual victims he personally sexually abused. Those investigations are continuing. Paratore will be required to register as a sex offender.
The sentence ultimately imposed on Paratore will be at the discretion of Judge Simandle. Sentencing is currently scheduled for Jan. 13, 2012.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s South Jersey Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos; investigators with the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton; and the West Deptford and Monroe Township Police Departments with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacqueline M. Carle of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.
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